May 20, 2000
Emperor Mike Coleman of Baldavia ordered his 1st Expeditionary Force through the mountain pass to the north and beyond. Along the way they encountered a hill tribe that immediately swore fealty and joined the mission with some archers and spearmen.

On the other side of the pass they found a vast arid land. An ancient Roman road lead to an oasis in a day’s travel. While the oasis was deserted, there were signs of recent occupation. There were three roads leading out of the oasis. They chose the road to the right that looked well traveled.

Within three days travel another oasis was encountered. It contained tents, the ruins of a building and a wall around it. Upon approaching it, they found it to be occupied. Pickets advised the small force to halt while their commander was summoned. He (Corey Paris) explained that they were a trading caravan and they were expecting an attack by raiders any time. Word had been sent to their Caliph for aid. He asked that Mike’s troops aid them in defending the oasis and offered to pay for protection. The caravan guards brought water out, but would not allow Mike’s troops into the oasis.

Mike’s commander agreed, and took up a position behind an escarpment. During the night, Mike noticed that the caravan guards were tending the pack animals. No caravan members other than guards had been observed.

Now the situation is not as it seems. The oasis defenders are really a group of young nobles that are lead by the hothead prince, son of the Caliph of a nearby kingdom. These young men are sons of nobles that are in training to enter the Caliph’s guard. The prince is looking for action, so during a break from training, he leads his young friends out looking for trouble. They find it in the form of an unfortunate caravan watering at the oasis. However, during the attack, the young prince takes an arrow in the chest. Alm Bedel, the ranking young noble takes over. He cannot move the prince, so he sends a messenger to the caliph asking for aid. When the force from Baldavia arrives. Alm talks them into helping to defend the oasis from troops from Ba’el, who will come to recover the caravan.

The defending troops include:

The expected attack starts mid afternoon. But, to Mike’s surprise, the attackers are not rag-tag raiders. They are disciplined, well armed, well-trained troops. They are facing 20 camel lancers (bow armed and in two units), 10 lancers, and 10 horse archers commanded by Jim Broshot.

They attacked immediately. Their firepower quickly over whelmed the defending fire troops. The mounted troops began their advance. Mike found himself in a dilemma. Obviously he had been lied to. But the attackers could not determine who was friend or foe. So he found himself being fired on. The mountain tribesmen kept their position behind the escarpment while the cavalry advanced.

The Caliph arrived with a large mounted force to rescue his son. To him, Mike’s troops looked like they were attacking the oasis, also. So they opened fired, inflicting no casualties. However, Jim was pressing his attack and about to attack the remaining wall defenders. Mike’s cavalry attacked one of the camel lancer units and drove it away with heavy casualties. The tribesmen advanced. The relief force now understood he was a friend.

The wall defenders were defeated and the horse lancers were in the compound. While the relief force was coming fast, the compound was overrun. They started searching the tents and found the wounded prince. He was finished off as the relief force reached the compound. The lancers were destroyed, but too late to save the prince. Jim withdrew the rest of his forces without rescuing his caravan. He had extracted some revenge. But the Jihad had started. Mike accompanied the Caliph back to his city to attend the state funeral of the prince.

Another mini-campaign will start within The Awakening to determine whom the gods will favor in this Jihad.

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May 13, 2000
BACKGROUND
Ed had sent a scout force, The "Army of the Crescent Moon," through the mountains to see what is on the other side. His force included four units:

1. 15 Turkish cavalry
2. 9 light infantry with a Naffatun
3. 19 religions volunteers with a Holy Man
4. 5 archers.

They arrived at a small town called Atteberry, and they were cautiously welcomed. Their Magistrate suggested that a small escort of four mounted Normans take them to the coastal town of Neo Venice to meet their Load, Arkem. Since this was a mission of exploration, Ed agreed.

The road followed a river that was the eastern boundary of Lord Arkem's territory. During the ride, discussions with the escort sergeant revealed that Lord Arkem was a harsh and unscrupulous ruler. This journey might prove to be more perilous than it first appeared.

THE SITUATION
Ber'Hera is a town on the river road to Neo Venice. A nephew of Lord Arkem governs it. Its garrison consists of about 25 men, conscripted from a region populated by nomads (commanded by Earl Hodgen).     Just north of the town, a unit of villagers, including a dog master and his pack met Ed's force. They were from a village northwest of here, sent to guard the bridge from Viking raiders reported in the area. Ed's scouts soon confirmed that there was a Viking ship moored on the riverbank, not 24 inches from this position. The escort sergeant suggested that they should make for Ber'Hera and the protection of the garrison and walled town. However, there were several wooded areas between them and Ber'Hera that could conceal raiders. Their location was unknown.

THE BATTLE
Ed sent the village units ahead following the road and sent the Naffatun's men to check out the Viking ship. There were only two Vikings on guard. They were quickly over whelmed and the ship captured. But now another variable became visible. There was a rather large caravan (commanded by Corey Paris) entering the area from the opposite direction. The sergeant recognized is as an Arab caravan that passed through Atteberry last month on its' way to Neo Venice. Speculation was that it might be the target of the Viking raiders (commanded by Matt Hodgen).

The villagers entered the first woods as the Normans were passing it. The dog-pack ran into a band of raiders, but they were routed. A Viking jumped out of the woods and briefly conferred with the Normans. They returned to Ed to tell him the situation. Meanwhile, the rest of the villagers charged into the woods and routed the raiders. The caravan was trying to move into the town, but archers fired warning shots to discourage that. They were going to have to make it down the road without help from the garrison.   The Norman sergeant informed Ed that he would have to return to Atteberry, and advised Ed to back off, as he would not be welcome in Neo Venice. These raiders are really Lord Arkem's Royal Guard, sent in disguise to collect taxes from the caravan. His idea of a reasonable tax was 100% of their possessions. They are disguised so they won't alienate their Arab neighbors across the river. Due to their friendship created while on the road, he would see to it that his troops got through Atteberry.

But the battle was still in progress. The dog-pack entered another grove and flushed out another raider unit in hiding. The Holy Man had lead his religious volunteers forward and defeated another raider unit that had attacked the caravan. The garrison had to pick a side now, due to pressure from the Captain of the Guard. They formed up and advanced from their walls. The caravan was breaking up despite the defeats Ed had inflicted on two bands of raiders. The caravan's fate was sealed when a cavalry unit from Neo Venice appeared on the road from their rear. While the caravan's leader and a few loyal followers staged a last stand against the Royal Guard, part of the caravan retreated into the hands of the Holy Man. The cavalry and town garrison helped the Royal Guard capture the rest of the caravan. But they were in no shape to take on Ed's troops, who had suffered few casualties.

ED'S RESULT
Ed's force was allowed to keep the caravan he had captured. Ed also made a low percentage roll that allowed the survivors to join the religious volunteers. He hurried his spoils off the battlefield. His intention is to return the goods he captured to the Arab leader in hopes of gaining favor with him. The villagers and the dog-pack master also joined his band to avoid repercussions from Lord Arkem's Royal Guard. The mission is going very well, indeed.

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March 25, 2000
During our last session on 3/25, we didn't have enough players to continue the Mongol invasion.  Instead we fought a campaign skirmish between the warring Vikings. 

This scenario picked up after the last Viking game.  The victorious Vikings, lead by Ketil (Matt's sub commander) spent a couple of days hunting down survivors of the battle in the Dupris harbor in Deltus.  Then they beached a few clicks down the coast to repair their ships and nurse the wounded.  They befriended a nearby Saxon village who had heard of their assistance in defeating the hated raider, Fortunious.

A short time later, the Viking camp was alerted by a frantic villager that informed them that an enemy Viking ship was heading toward their shore.  This ship was commanded by Cortica (Corey), a minor sub chieftain of Gardar.  They were on a scouting mission looking for the son of Svid (Matt).  They decided to raid this village to restore their supplies.

Coritca's men debarked quickly and headed for the village, leaving two guards at the ship.  The villagers scattered and attempted to attack the raiders individually when they spread out.  These attacks met with limited success.  One fight that lasted the whole game saw a Viking archer chase a village archer off the board in a running fight.  Many arrows were loosed, with none finding their mark.  This raider turned out to be one of the few survivors.

Mean while, Ketil's men, reinforced by a few villagers, split into two groups.  One group secretly moved close to the village.  The other group secretly placed themselves between the raiders and their ship.  They tried to quietly subdue the two guards, but one broke loose and sounded the alarm just before Ketil's archers finished him off.  The alarmed raiders turned to attack Ketil's men at the ship.  But as they charged out from the protection of the village, the flanking group opened up with archers fire.  The raiders were now outnumbered and out flanked.  After a brief fire fight, the raiders retreated from the village wall, and later surrendered to Ketil's Vikings, rather than face the wrath of the villagers.